"Merry Muscles" scaling success.

Previously I had asked for help in finding a Special Needs Merry Muscles, since the manufacturer had discontinued them. One employee told me that the heavy-duty hardwarey bits on the "MEAS" where necessary to hold larger users, but a second employee told me the product had been discontinued because people were buying them for older children who did not have special needs. The first excuse (weight) was basically telling me that a product they used to make was actually impossible. The second excuse just seemed stupid - the response to a larger-than-expected additional market for your product should be "Hurray! More money!" as opposed to becoming so offended that you discontinue the product altogether!

Anyhow, in my previous thread, I was looking for a "Special Needs" model that I could disassemble and scale.

I got my hands on one, and have spent a couple months tweaking. A few trips to JoAnn Fabric, Home Depot, and a bicycle shop has yielded two very nice working prototypes.

The original "Special Needs" model is smaller than I had pictured. At 120 lbs I can BARELY force myself into it - it would comfortably fit up to maybe an 80lb kid. This is the model that "Paige" told me could not exist, because the additional heavy-duty hardware was necessary to hold a larger/older child.

SO MUCH FOR THAT. My clone is very similar in design/material/construction and has adequately held up to 160 lbs.

Good work looks like fun I still use the special needs jumper. To do this the sides were made longer by fitting in some blue fabric on each side. By doing this I can do up two rows of snaps on each side and works well as I am 175 lbs. Did change the support ring with half inch copper pipe and fittings./

bn3baby, I thought of this, but just lengthening the side panels is not the same as scaling the whole thing. The overall shape of the seat supports/cradles baby in just such a way, being slightly wider than the user's back, and a larger user is now wider than that design. Simply making the front and back further away from one another does not solve this problem.

Picture if you will a small chair that fits a 4-year-old perfectly. Attempting to sit in that chair will be unpleasant at best. Now make that chair longer, front-to-back, without altering the width. You can now sit on this chair, yes, but it is more of a bench used 90 degrees around than a chair.

I got the special needs MM I was looking for. At my size (5'2" 120lbs, 30" waist) it just sorta kind almost works. I was looking for something that would fit me and work as well and comfortably as the baby one does for babies. I wasn't looking to be hung by a thong.

Reading one of the old threads that comes up when you search for "merry muscles," https://www.adisc.org/forum/showthre...-Needs-Bouncer, that is one you had scaled by another company (whose website no longer exists). You posted those same pictures, but also some pictures of the (blue) original, which is very definitely narrower overall.

"Forever A Kid" may have done a great job on the one they scaled for you, but "Forever A Kid" no longer seems to exist...

I am going to put together another one today, perhaps different material as an experiment... I intend to try zippers on the sides, provided JoAnn has any suitable ones in stock...

All these exist, because disabled people do, so, on behalf of all of us, you're welcome. But something understandable also happens when making some of these things. They're not joy-joy play things; they're medical equipment, so, every effort is made to make their medical equipmentness obvious. Well, I happen to be both, dang it!

The jogger strollers do the best job not looking medical, followed by the car seats, if you don't go adding postural and positioning supports to them. The full-support swing seats are okay too, but again, don't add a headrest.

The foot rests on adult convaid strollers, and most other adult sized umbrella strollers are a dead bloody giveaway they're medical equipment. If you ever see me drink from an adult spout cup, shoot me. Those things are as ugly as homemade sin! They're also ridiculously expensive, because makers know people need them so badly, they can overcharge. Those bouncy seats. Could you get any more medical looking? All but one potty seat I've seen looks more like a torture device, and don't get me started on the bath chairs. Now, I get it. I do. I'm disabled. I know why every bloomin' strap is on the bath chair, and why combination shower/potty chairs look like torture devices, but it makes Li'l' me wanna cry. Even the Merry Muscles (I saw the original.) has, "this isn't a baby thing, figuratively written all over it. Shouldn't they have given a crap that it look, "merry"?

All these exist, because disabled people do, so, on behalf of all of us, you're welcome. But something understandable also happens when making some of these things. They're not joy-joy play things; they're medical equipment, so, every effort is made to make their medical equipmentness obvious. Well, I happen to be both, dang it!

The jogger strollers do the best job not looking medical, followed by the car seats, if you don't go adding postural and positioning supports to them. The full-support swing seats are okay too, but again, don't add a headrest.

The foot rests on adult convaid strollers, and most other adult sized umbrella strollers are a dead bloody giveaway they're medical equipment. If you ever see me drink from an adult spout cup, shoot me. Those things are as ugly as homemade sin! They're also ridiculously expensive, because makers know people need them so badly, they can overcharge. Those bouncy seats. Could you get any more medical looking? All but one potty seat I've seen looks more like a torture device, and don't get me started on the bath chairs. Now, I get it. I do. I'm disabled. I know why every bloomin' strap is on the bath chair, and why combination shower/potty chairs look like torture devices, but it makes Li'l' me wanna cry. Even the Merry Muscles (I saw the original.) has, "this isn't a baby thing, figuratively written all over it. Shouldn't they have given a crap that it look, "merry"?

Being physically/developmentally disabled, adult potty chair, bathing bench, side safety rails, and push rollator walker are necessary.
I wish I had a "bouncer" my own size.
Besides exercise, it would aid in stimming/emotional regulation.

Even the Merry Muscles (I saw the original.) has, "this isn't a baby thing, figuratively written all over it. Shouldn't they have given a crap that it look, "merry"?

Is there a model of jumper you'd like me to try up-scaling next?

I would LOVE to get my hands on the old Johnny Jump-Up Deluxe... not the regular, not the modern one with the metal frame... this was a canvas deal, with wooden bars on front and back (not the plastic one) and NOT the yellow version...